KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mohd Hafifi Mansor was among five athletes suspended by the Malaysian Weightlifting Association (PABM) for failing the doping tests conducted by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on March 23.
PABM president Datuk Ayub Rahmat said in a statement today, said Mohd Hafifi was suspended for three years while Mohamad Fazrul Azrie Mohdad, Muhammad Hakimie Haikal Nordin, Muhammad Zaidi Nordin and Ronny Jesus were each suspended for four years.
He said all the athletes would be prohibited from participating in any activity during the period.
Ayub said the suspension period of Mohd Hafifi began on March 17, 2018 until March 17, 2021, Mohamad Fazrul Azrie (March 28, 2018-March 28, 2020), while three other athletes had been suspended from March 23 to March 22, 2022.
“The athletes had also undergone internal hearing sessions to defend themselves before the decision was made by the PABM Disciplinary Sub-Committee Chairman and was also brought to the PABM exco meeting,” said Ayub.
Commenting further, Ayub also explained that the decision was made known to the five athletes, the National Sports Council, the National Sports Institute, the Malaysian Anti-Doping Agency (ADAMAS) and IWF.
Earlier, the IWF official site on March 28 said three Malaysian athletes were certified positive for the drug Stanozolol after Sample A urine tests were randomly performed by IWF.
For the record, it is the fourth case this year involving weightlifting athletes with PABM also facing the risk of suspension from IWF following the increase in doping test failure cases involving national athletes. — Bernama
